Firstly, thanks to these wonderful reviewers: Indigo Oblivion, MisstiqueRose and AquilaTempestas. You guys are awesome. :D
WARNING: Chapter contains OCs. Don't like, don't read, though it would be great if you gave it a try, who knows you might enjoy it. ;P
CHAPTER 2
Date: 30th January
Location: Tokyo, Japan
"So Lena, what was the opposition like?" said one of the Kamikaze Girls, just as her teammate flopped into the chair across her. She was striking, with deep reddish-brown hair tied in a long thick braid and heavily lashed eyes, blue like the sky on a sunny day. Her skin was the colour of milky coffee that was typical of those of Middle Eastern descent. She stood out the most in the group, especially with her traditional garb; a long, loose mostly black dress, long-sleeved, with intricate embroidery in rich jewel tones. Small gold coins were stitched on the matching braided belt tied around her waist. "Do you think they recognised you?"
Lena nodded, brushing her multi-coloured bangs out of her eyes before pulling a tall parfait towards her and dipped a spoon in. The rest of her hair was a dirty blonde, twisted into a messy bun at the back of her head. "Pretty sure they did. Well, at least Emily does. I saw her looking at our stats on her iPad as soon as I came up." She lifted the spoon back out, eying the dripping chocolate sauce with happy satisfaction before popping it in her mouth.
"The All Starz are known for their data collecting after all, so that's hardly surprising," Another girl spoke up as she folded up the sleeves of her blue plaid shirt. She had one of those quiet voices, difficult to catch even over the low hum of conversation in the café. She was the most normal looking one in the group, with a blonde chin-length bob and unassuming brown eyes.
"True," Lena replied through a mouthful of ice cream. "But still, we have to be careful later. I don't want them to know much about our styles before the tournament. Remember what I said about when we're on the cruise later-"
"'Don't battle to your full strengths'," the first girl interrupted, "'Try not to use our usual styles.'"
"'Make friends'," the blonde added. "'Find out the opponent's weakness.'"
"We know, Captain," they finished in unison.
Lena rolled her eyes,"Smartasses." And then she grinned.
Then, the final member of the Kamikaze Girls spoke up. She was dressed completely in black. "Guys, don't look now, but pretty boy's looking over at us," She smirked as she looked away from the All Starz's table, her heavily lined grey eyes amused. "You'd better hurry up, if you want to avoid talking to them," she told Lena, who began to shovel ice cream into her mouth at top speed.
"I didn't know blue-eyed blonds were your type, Melaina," the first girl said, a sly grin appearing on her lips.
"They're not," Melaina said drily as she picked apart a used napkin. "Just stating a fact, Naz-reen."
"Someone's in denial," Nazreen sang, sniggering as Melaina tossed the napkin at her. "Remember a certain Italian blader?" she said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Lena sniggered into her parfait.
Melaina groaned. "How many times are you gonna bring that up? I told you, it was part of my strategy!"
"So you say. It looked pretty realistic to me," Nazreen replied, just to annoy her further.
Melaina shrugged, smirking smugly. "What can I say, I'm an excellent actress. And at least, I won my match, which is more than I can say for you."
Nazreen gave a very unladylike snort. "At least I didn't resort to underhanded tactics," she shot back.
Melaina scoffed, tossing her jet black hair over her shoulder as she examined her black nails. "Underhanded tactics? It's called exploiting the enemy's weakness. All's fair in love and war, hon."
As Nazreen opened her mouth to retort, Lena set her glass with a loud thud.
"That's enough you two. Let's go." She stood up, paid and headed towards the exit. Nazreen settled for making a face at Melaina, who rolled her eyes in response before hurrying after their captain, the blonde at the back of the group.
x
The girls wandered the streets for about an hour, taking in the sights, until…
"Hey guys, mind if I duck into this store for a second? I wanna get some new clothes." Nazreen said, pointing to a store ahead. "I'm not going around in this," she tugged at her dress, "any longer." She added, tired of being stopped for pictures by the Japanese and tourists alike, who were interested in the exotic clothes she wore.
"Really, Naz? I thought you enjoyed having your picture taken," Melaina snarked. "Since you were parading around in that and all."
Nazreen scowled. "Oh shut up." She grumbled as she stomped towards the store.
Lena waved them ahead. "You guys go on first, I spy with my little eye, a takoyaki stand!" she said in a sing-song voice, starting eagerly towards the small stall further down the street. Melaina shook her head at her friend's bottomless pit of a stomach and moved to follow Nazreen into the store.
"You coming, Nikola?" Lena called out over her shoulder, knowing that the blonde didn't like shopping. Nikola didn't reply; hands stuffed in her jeans pockets, she trailed after her.
x
After placing her order, the half-Japanese stood by the side, watching as the stall keeper flipped the cooking takoyaki with a skewer stick. Nikola moved to stand next to her, taking a step back when the heat from the pan started to warm her already sweaty face. Lena took her box of octopus balls, one hand rooting through the pocket of her dark blue cardigan for some change. She paid the man, thanked him and the pair began walking back. They sat on a bench outside the store in companiable silence, watching people walk pass by.
"This is so good!" Lena said happily as she ate one. Nikola gave her a sidelong glance.
"You sound like you've never eaten takoyaki before," she commented at the look on Lena's face.
"Yeah, well," she poked a skewer into another ball, "It's been a while since I've had takoyaki, so," she shrugged, as if that explained everything.
"How long since you've been back to Japan?"
"Uh, a long time, I guess? I've been living in Europe since I was really small. I don't really remember. Want one?" Lena offered the box. Nikola eyed the greasy balls of dough and shook her head.
"No thanks."
"Oh come on, try it!"
"It smells funny."
"It's just the bonito flakes. They taste good, I swear!"
The Swiss wrinkled her nose. "…No."
"Fine. Your loss."
"Mhmm."
"You're so unadventurous."
"Whatever," Nikola deadpanned, rolling her eyes. She reached out to pull at her shirt which was stuck to her sweaty back and wondered how Lena could stand the heat in her cardigan-skirt-tights combination.
"Do you think they'll be done anytime soon?" Lena wondered, setting the now empty box aside.
Nikola scoffed. "With Melaina inside? I don't think so."
Lena puffed out her cheeks and leaned back on her palms. "I guess we'll be here for a while huh?"
"Looks like it."
Lena looked at her from the corner of her eye, a mischievous look in her eye. "Wanna play a game to pass the time?"
X
Melaina was in heaven. The store Nazreen picked sold really cute clothes, she thought as she wandered around the store. For someone who lived in the dessert, she sure had good taste in clothing. She went over to what seemed to be the on sale section, and in the middle of the pile, she spotted a really cute black denim skirt. As she reached out for the black denim skirt, another hand shot out for it. They both grabbed it at the same time. Melaina turned to scowl at the other girl, a very familiar blond-brunette who had a similar expression on her face.
"Hey, aren't you one of the Kamikaze Girls?" Julia Fernandez asked, green eyes narrowed in a glare.
Her tone didn't sit right with Melaina. "So what if I am?" she lifted her chin challengingly.
"So you need to give up this super cute skirt to me."
Melaina raised an eyebrow, "And why is that?"
"Cos I'm obviously the better blader," she replied snidely, giving Melaina a once over, looking unimpressed. "So you have to give in to me."
Melaina had to admit, albeit grudgingly, that she was right. Julia was definitely one of the stronger competitors but of course, she wasn't going to let her know that. "You're only better cos my team wasn't in the previous competition," she retorted, gripping the skirt tighter.
"Pft, you wish, honey. My team was in the top three last year and where were you? I bet you guys didn't even pass the freaking qualifiers!"
"For your information, we didn't even compete last year!"
"Duh, cos you weren't good enough!"
"Grr, what did you say?"
"I said, you suck! Are you deaf now, poser?"
"Poser? That's it! You're going down!"
Electricity buzzed between the two girls as they whipped out their launchers, ignoring the cries of the distraught shopkeeper.
"What's going on?" Nazreen demanded, dropping the clothes in her arms as she ran over to them. She gaped when she saw Melaina, launcher out to battle with Julia Fernandez, of all people in the middle of a store.
"Butt out, Naz. This is between me and her."
"Yeah, butt out," Julia echoed, not moving her eyes from Melaina's. "That skirt's mine!"
"Wait, you guys are fighting over a skirt? Seriously?" The disbelief in the redhead's voice would be comical if not for the situation.
"It's not just about the skirt!" Melaina protested. "She insulted us too!"
"Yeah, probably after you insulted her," Nazreen muttered under her breath. "And where is this skirt?" she asked loudly, curious to see the skirt that had the girls fighting.
"That one!" Melaina jerked her head towards the pile.
"I don't see any skirts," Nazreen said, "Just a bunch of shirts."
"Are you blind? It's ther- Wait, where is it?"
"It's not there anymore!" Julia wailed, her arm falling limp by her side.
"Wait, was it a black skirt? Denim?"
"Yeah!"
"I think that girl just bought it," Nazreen pointed at a girl exiting the store. The doorbell jingled merrily as the door swung shut behind her.
"…"
AN: Soooooo. Long time, no see huh? Sorry for the long wait, this chapter refused to be written properly. This was like, the fifth rewrite or something, so hopefully it was enjoyable enough. I know nothing much is happening, but I just wanted to give a brief introduction of the OCs. Let me know what you guys think of the Kamikaze Girls. Like, dislike, hate (MARYSUE! –le gasp-). Any feedback would be great. ;)
Next chapter will probably be up within the next two weeks and will feature our favourite Russians, the Wraith Knights and maybe the White Tigers as well, so look out for it!
